Rewriting the Past
by hpgirl
Summary: Formerly the Amnesiac. Severus Snape is walking by the greenhouses and finds a girl laying on the ground... Who is she? What do the fates have in store for them? Hopefully I'm better at writing stories than I am at summaries ;)
1. Mysterious Girl

AN: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters/structures that the fabulous JKR has created. I do not even own the plot, that belongs to the faerie sitting on my shoulder feeding it to me. I have seen many character-goes-back-in-time fics, but I haven't seen one like this. So, if you think I've nicked your plot/character, I haven't, the faerie did ;o) All the spells/potions that aren't in the books were made up. If there are no official incantations for spells in the books then I made them up using the Latin words if I could find them.

I know that most people like to think of Severus Snape as an evil git. In fact until recently reading various Hermione/Snape fics I thought so too. I felt like writing Snape as a nice guy for once. If you don't like Snape as a nice guy then I'd advise you to find another fic.

I would like to thank my delightful and enchanting online friend Bonnie (pauses for round of applause) who spent ages and ages saying that she couldn't help me with this story, but helped me more than she realises by being a great sounding board and who has betaed this chapter (and in my opinion done an excellent job of it) even though she has absolutely no time. And Katie, her very nice sister, who occasionally helped me when Bonnie wasn't on ;o)

AN2: This story has been updated since Half-Blood Prince to include things from the past that HBP revealed, so there will be some spoilers. And OOTP spoilers. In fact just to be safe, spoilers from all books.

**Chapter One**

"That shouldn't have happened Time," said Fate.

"I know, but it did."

"How did we not see that coming? All those unnecessary deaths."

"I manage all of time. That is but one footnote."

"But it didn't have to… it shouldn't have…"

"But what can we do?" Time asked Fate.

"There isn't anything that we can do, but there is something you can do… send someone back to prevent it."

"Yes. I agree. Let's send her…" said time, pointing to a picture of a woman.

"She's too old and jaded there… she needs to be the same age as he was then… oh… oh… look there, she's the right age there, oh… that's a good opportunity," said Fate, pointing at the same woman a little earlier in her life.

"Yes, you're right, and it'll be easier to do it from there… go on... do it."

"Done."

* * *

Seventh-year Severus Snape hurried back from greenhouse five in the pouring rain, his cloak drenched through. He searched his surroundings for the familiar sight of Hogwarts castle. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he heard a scream then a loud thud, and he whirled around, his eyes looking for what had caused the commotion.

_There._

A few meters away from him was a girl laying on her back, her clothes drenched and splattered with mud, a broken wand gripped in her hand.

He jogged over and took out his wand, conjuring a stretcher underneath her. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, and the stretcher started to float. He ran the rest of the way to the castle, levitating the stretcher behind him.

The magical doors leading to the Entrance Hall swung open to admit him.

"Mr Snape!" Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher said angrily as she whirled around at the sound of the door. Some tinsel that she had been levitating onto a Christmas tree fell to the ground as her concentration was broken, but Severus didn't have to suffer the consequences of her anger this time. She had rushed past him and was looking at the girl in the stretcher, and her expression had softened considerably. "Follow me! We'll take her to the hospital wing."

He followed the professor quickly and quietly through the halls and soon they were in the sterile hospital wing. He'd always hated the place. The smell the most. It smelled so lifeless. And then, there was Madam Pomfrey, always acting like a mother hen.

Madam Pomfrey gasped at the sight of the girl, but went to work straight away, first removing the broken wand from her the girls' hand, casting drying charms, then warming charms, and finally finishing with healing all her injuries.

By the time she finished, Albus Dumbledore, the school headmaster, had arrived.

"What happened?" he asked, fixing Severus with a penetrating stare.

"I was coming back from greenhouse five. I was alone. I heard her scream and then there was a thud. I ran to her and I levitated her over to the castle, Professor McGonagall and I came here and Madam Pomfrey started healing her," said Severus shortly, never really one for talking much.

"She had several bruises, three fractured ribs and her right arm and leg were broken. But I have healed all of her injuries," reported the mediwitch.

"But why would a child have so many injuries? She couldn't have got that from a fall, could she?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"It depends on how high up she was," said Madam Pomfrey with authority. "If she were on a broom then maybe… Mr. Snape, did you see a broom anywhere?"

"No, I didn't Madam Pomfrey."

"She looks like she could be a seventh year, maybe sixth, but I doubt it," said Madam Pomfrey, casting a worried glance over the small form of the girl.

"She isn't a student, I don't recognise her. But she couldn't have got here by accident," said Professor McGonagall, addressing the room. "She has a wand, albeit a broken one, so she can't be a Muggle, besides there are Muggle repelling charms in case one of them gets too close."

Dumbledore went over to her and seemed to study her, then he reached for a chain that he saw around her neck and pulled it out. "Definitely not a Muggle," he said, showing the others what he had found. The broken remains of a time turner. "She's must be a future student, and one with an exceptional magical ability. We haven't had to issue one of these since you were at school, Minerva,"

"Does she have any identification on her?" asked Professor McGonagall, raising an eyebrow.

"No," replied Madam Pomfrey, after finishing searching the pockets of the girls' trousers. "But she does have this," said Madam Pomfrey, holding up a bag with the logo WWW on it.

"Curious," said Dumbledore.

"Can we wake her? Is it safe?" Professor McGonagall asked. "Perhaps she can tell is what happened to her."

"Certainly," said Madam Pomfrey, setting the items down on a tray beside her and taking out her own wand. "Ennervate."

The girl moaned and started to stir. A few moments later she opened her eyes, and closed them again, obviously the light was too bright for her.

"Nox," muttered Dumbledore, and all the lights in the room went out.

After a moment the girl opened her eyes took the wand that Dumbledore held. "Lumos," she mumbled and started to squint as a light shone out of the end of Dumbledore's wand, but it was nowhere near as bright as the light that Dumbledore had produced before.

"Hello," said Professor Dumbledore, "how are you feeling?"

"I have a headache," replied the girl.

"Who are you?"

The girl appeared to think intently before she answered. "I don't know. Do you know who I am?"

"I'm afraid we were rather hoping that you would know the answer to that question," said Dumbledore in a calming tone. "Do you remember anything?"

"Uhh…" said the girl, starting to become scared. "I'm not sure."

"You were found on school grounds, near to our green houses, by Mr Snape."

The girl blinked, taking in the information. "School? How is that possible? Where am I?"

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of the school. This is Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey and Severus Snape," said Dumbledore, indicating each person in turn.

The girl nodded, trembling.

"Are you sure that you remember nothing about yourself?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Ummm, maybe it will come back to me… but for the moment, nothing."

"Very well," said Dumbledore. "I am sure that Poppy will want to keep you here for a few more days, just to make sure there is nothing wrong with you."

"There is one more thing," said Professor McGonagall, "What do you want us to call you? We can hardly address you as "hey you" all the time, can we."

"Ermmm…" said the girl. "I don't know… any suggestions?"

"Beatrice?"

"Mildred?"

"Eloise?"

"Ummm… do you have any suggestions," the girl asked, looking towards Severus.

"Tara?" he suggested impassively.

"Tara, I like it, what does it mean?"

"She is the Polynesian sea-goddess. Any man who saw her was transfixed by her beauty," said Professor McGonagall, a slight smile on her lips, while the newly named Tara blushed.

Severus raised an eyebrow, "It was the first name that came to me."

"Of course," said Dumbledore, matter-of-factly. But Severus noticed the twinkle in Dumbledore's blue eyes. "Mr Snape, do you not have a class to go to? And Minerva, now that Tara is in safe hands we should return our attentions to decorating the castle for Christmas. Aren't you supposed to be supervising the decoration of Gryffindor Tower? I believe that the Gryffindors have a free period at the moment, and I may have heard young Mr Black talking about charming some of the decorations to explode."

One by one they filed out, leaving Tara alone with Madam Pomfrey. But as Dumbledore was about to go through the door he said, "Tara, I believe that it would be in your best interests, if the school did not know that you are a time-traveller, you must keep it a secret for now. But in the event that you do remember something important, I would like you to come and tell me."

* * *

"Where have you been?" Lucius asked Severus when he arrived at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. 

"I found a girl out at the greenhouses, now Dumbledore wants me to make friends with her," said Severus rolling his eyes. "Should have just left her where she was."

It was dinner and Severus had just come down to the Great Hall. He had to spend most of the afternoon in the hospital wing, talking to Tara, well more answering her questions, on Dumbledore's suggestion. He'd actually had more important things to do, but Dumbledore was Headmaster, and his suggestions, orders. Thankfully, at six o'clock, Madam Pomfrey had told him that Tara needed rest, and that he could come back in the morning to see her.

_She is such a chatterbox, _he thought, irritated.

"Poor little Severus," said Lucius. "Still Dumbledore's pet project. If you just go along with it, he might think he's succeeded and give up."

"I somehow doubt it," said Severus, sardonically. "More likely it'll encourage the old goat."

"I have one announcement to make before we start," said Professor Dumbledore.

"Today, a young woman was found unconscious near the greenhouses." There was a collective gasp, and bursts of chatter broke out through the Great Hall. "Silence," said the Professor, raising his voice over the noise. "We do not know how she got there but upon examination we have found that she has no memory of herself or her experiences, but she does know magic. Since she has magical abilities, it has been decided that she will stay with us until she has fully recovered. That is all."

On the word all, the platters and bowls in front of them filled with food and Severus loaded his plate.

* * *

"Albus, What do you think of our new guest?" Minerva asked Dumbledore. 

They were sitting in his office, enjoying some tea as they often did on Friday evenings.

"She is a mystery, one that I would like to learn as much about as I can. But these things have a way of revealing themselves to us only when they are ready."

"Do you think she could be from the future?" Minerva hazarded.

"She could be, but the time turner has never been used to send people back more than twenty-four hours. Yet, she must be from at least six years into the future."

"Maybe that is the effect of breaking the time turner while wearing it."

* * *

"So, Tara, what are we going to do with you?" 

"Sir?" asked Tara, a little unsure.

She had been in the care of Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing for two days now and was tired of the constant fuss the medi-witch made over her.

"Madam Pomfrey and I have tried every charm that we know that could possibly get your memory back, to no avail. I have made discreet enquiries to all the heads of every wizarding school and nobody seems to know your identity. I would like to avoid putting an advertisement in the newspapers for the moment."

"So what _are_ you going to do with me?"

"I have announced to the school that you will be staying with us until your memory is recovered, but you will find the days long and boring if there is nothing for you to do, so I have arranged it so that you can take classes with the students of this school."

"Thank you Professor Dumbledore."

"After you have been tested, I will arrange for textbooks to be sent to you from Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley, and Madam Malkin will be coming to the school, to fit you for your school robes in a few days."

"But I don't have any…"

"They will be paid for out of the schools accounts, we have an emergency fund for students, I'm sure this can be counted as an emergency."

"Thank you Professor," said Tara stupidly, wishing that she could say more, but she couldn't find the words. So she hugged him instead.

"You're welcome, Tara," he replied with a chuckle.

* * *

Over the next few days Tara had several visitors, mainly professors establishing her skill with a wand, Madam Malkin had come and quickly taken her measurements. She met a few students, who came in to get something healed, most notable was a boy called Sirius Black who came in with James Potter, who had managed to get his arm broken by a Bludger. Some came back to chat with her, some brought her clothes to wear, instead of the (as Lily Evans put it) nasty hospital wing robes. Severus had been to visit her a few times, which she suspected he'd been pushed into. He'd brought her some books to read to wile away the hours and then they'd discussed them while he visited 

Finally, after a week of being fussed over, Tara was able to leave the hospital wing and join the rest of the students, but she was to have her own room until she could be sorted. She was to take all the classes that she could for the two weeks that remained of the term (with the aid of the time-turner of course) and then decide which classes she wanted to take for the rest of the year.

After the week of being cooped up in hospital wing with almost nothing to do, taking classes was more exciting than she could have imagined (with one exception).

Professor McGonagall said she had a natural talent in Transfiguration. Charms came quite naturally too, Flitwick the professor had clapped excitedly as she performed all the advanced charms that he could think of. Nothing was more boring than History of Magic, even watching paint dry would have been more exciting. After ten minutes of Divination she'd decided it was complete nonsense and to never go there again. Ever. She loved Ancient Runes, more practical than Divination. Muggle Studies was good, although she had the feeling that it was all familiar somehow. Care of Magical Creatures was great, In her first lesson the professor captured a unicorn and they were allowed to study it for an hour, until she let it go, then they spent the rest of their time learning about dragons, mooncalf and re'em.

She spent most of her free time with Severus who showed her around the castle and escorted her to as many lessons as he could, which made most of the students stare. Apparently they weren't used to seeing him being nice to anyone that wasn't a Slytherin. Most people tended to stay away from her because she hung around with Severus, but Lily and her group of friends as well as few others people Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were still friendly with her.

By the time the first week was up she had already decided on the extra classes she was going to take, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies. It had been a bit of a struggle, but she managed to convince the teachers to let her take an additional third subject. Severus had tried to convince her not to take Muggle Studies, but she quickly silenced him with the threat that she would drop Ancient Runes instead.

In her second week at the school most of the teachers didn't do much teaching - well they couldn't, everyone was too excited about the upcoming holiday. Even the strict Professor McGonagall was reluctant to teach, the only person who made them take proper lessons, was Professor Binns, the only ghost teacher. Tara supposed that since he was dead, the holidays didn't matter much to him.


	2. Hogsmeade, Sweet Hogsmeade

**Chapter Two**

Severus didn't know where the time had gone. It seemed to him like one moment he was levitating a soaking wet girl into the Entrance Hall and the next it was the night before the Hogsmeade trip.

He hated to admit, it but he actually liked Tara. Everything always seemed so simple around her. They talked about the books he had borrowed from the library for her for hours and he often lost track of time. She wasn't conniving like most of the girls he knew, like Narcissa or Bellatrix, she was honest and kind to him. This kind of relationship was almost alien to him, after all, the only other person he knew like that was his mother, and then only in private.

He had been screwing up his courage for the past three days to ask Tara if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him. He didn't know why but he was nervous about it. It was only Tara, after all. They'd become friends, why wouldn't she want to?

_Friends? She's probably a Mudblood, _said a harsh voice inside his head that sounded incredibly like his father.

_She's a nice girl, _came his mothers' gentler tone.

_And you're an ugly, hook-nosed git,_ said his own voice inside his head. _Nobody would want you like that._

_Like what? _asked his mother.

_I think he likes the little Mudblood, _sounded his fathers' voice.

"No I don't," he whispered to the voices in his head, feeling his cheeks go red.

He knocked on her door.

"Wait a minute!" came a voice inside the room and there were some scurrying noises, closing of draws, then the door opened.

As soon as she saw who it was, her whole face lit up with a smile that reached her eyes.

"Hello Sevi," she said.

"Hello Tara," said Severus scowling. "And how many times have I told you not to call me that!"

"Come in," she said an innocent smile on her face.

He stepped through the threshold of the door and the sweet scent of her skin rushed into his nose.

"So, looking forward to going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" she asked eying him.

"No, no, I'm fine, in fact, I was wondering…" he paused, irritated that this silly question was making him so nervous..

"Yes?" she asked expectantly.

"Would, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"

"Of course, I assumed we were going together anyway. We are friends after all."

* * *

Tara had been looking forward to the trip to Hogsmeade since she'd heard some of the other students talking about the annual Christmas trip. Severus' descriptions and stories had only made her more curious about the all-magical village.

She woke early, got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall with a group of passing Ravenclaws.

"Hello Tara!" said Dumbledore walking over to her as she neared the Great Hall. "I was just looking for you."

"Hello Professor," she replied nodding slightly.

"Could I speak to you for a moment, in private," he asked, motioning for her to go into a small room opposite the Great Hall.

"Yes, sir," she replied.

Tara followed him over to the room and he shut the door behind her.

"How are you doing?" he asked. This was the first time she'd had a proper chance to talk to the headmaster since she'd started lessons.

"Fine, it's a little strange sometimes," said Tara sighing in resignation. "I mean most of the time I feel like I belong here, but then suddenly I get the feeling that I belong here but not quite."

"Maybe it's your subconscious remembering something, but your conscience can't access the memory," said Dumbledore nodding wisely. "Tell me, have you recovered any of your memory?"

"Not yet."

"I see. We would like to sort you into a house for the remainder of your stay."

Tara nodded again. "Okay… When?"

"I know that this is very sudden, but we would like to do it tonight. We believe that it would give you the opportunity to settle into your house before everyone gets back. It will also give your friends and new housemates time to adjust."

"That's fine," she said, a little anxious to go to breakfast.

"One last thing, it has come to my attention that you have no funds to go to Hogsmeade with… Or to get any supplies for the coming years…"

Tara blushed. She hadn't really thought about that.

"So I have taken the liberty of drawing some money out of school funds and set up a Gringotts account for you. The current total is two hundred and forty galleons."

Tara's jaw dropped. "You… you… thank you…" she stammered, hardly believing her ears.

"Or I should say 200 hundred Galleons, the rest is in this pouch, I dare say that you might want to buy some clothes and Christmas presents for your friends," he said handing her a small brown bag. "This money and the money in the account is to last you until either we find a way to get you back to your time or you graduate and get a job."

"Thank you, Professor," she said dumbly.

She was still stunned when she met Severus in the entrance of the Great Hall.

"Are you ready for our trip?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said distantly.

"Is something wrong?" he asked slight concern showing in his voice.

"No, no," she replied coming out of her daze.

Severus led her to the Slytherin table and she received dirty looks from Lucius Malfoy and all his cronies. They all agreed that she was obviously a Mudblood, since no one had come to collect her. She got half-smiles from all the others who liked her enough, but didn't really want to upset Malfoy by being friendly towards her. Apparently his family was an influential one.

"So," Malfoy sneered, "I hear that you two have a date."

"It's not a date." said Tara defensively. "Even if it was, what's that got to do with you?"

"A boy and a girl, going to Hogsmeade alone for the day… if that's not a date, what else would you call it?" Malfoy sneered rudely at Tara, then turned to Severus. "I never thought you'd sink so low as to date one of them."

"And what do you mean my "one of them" Mr. Malfoy?" asked Professor McGonagall, approaching the Slytherin table.

"Nothing Professor," said Malfoy, looking at Severus and Tara.

"Oh I think we both know what you meant Mr. Malfoy. Twenty points from Slytherin. And don't let me catch you talking like that again."

The rest of breakfast went past quietly, Malfoy glaring over at Tara and Severus occasionally.

* * *

After breakfast Tara and Severus went to their room and grabbed their cloaks meeting in front of the doors in the Entrance Hall.

They left the school at nine, walking quietly down the path leading to Hogsmeade, the only sound discernible was their footsteps crunching the crisp snow. Tara was glad she'd brought her heaviest cloak, gloves and hat. Even in all those layers she was still cold.

As they approached Hogsmeade Tara pulled on Severus' arm and they stopped while she took in the view from the top of the hill that they were walking down. The rooftops were covered in snow, but the windows of each building looked like they'd been charmed so that the snow would evaporate on contact. There were children whizzing past them on sleds, shouting and laughing. Off to the side there were children building snow-wizards (and witches). In the middle of the street there was another group having a snowball fight. To Tara it looked like perfect scene for a Christmas card.

"Come on, let's go," said Severus, running down the hill, dragging Tara behind him all the way to the other end of the village.

"Stop! Stop!" she cried, clutching at the stitch in her side.

"Ah… Hogsmeade, sweet Hogsmeade…" said Severus with a small grin. Then he looked at Tara with little sympathy, "You can't be that unfit!"

"Yes I can! I probably spent loads of time in the library in my time."

Severus was suddenly serious. "Still no memories?"

"No… not yet… I just wish there was some spell that could help."

"Well they're always coming up with new charms at the Ministry of Magic. They'll come up with something," said Severus reassuringly. "Besides, the longer you don't remember anything, the longer we get to keep you here!"

This cheered Tara up a little. "Okay, where to first?"

"Where do you want to go?" he asked her.

"Well… I have everything I need… for school… but I could use some more books, maybe some on Defence Against the Dark Arts and maybe even a copy of Hogwarts: A History, and Muggles, I'd like to learn more about them."

"Tara, you're already taking Muggle Studies."

"Yeah… but it couldn't hurt to read up on them before class…"

Severus gave a small chuckle and grabbed her hand, leading her over to Flourish and Blotts.

"It's a little smaller than the one in Diagon Alley, but it's the only book shop here," said Severus once they were inside.

"It's great," said Tara, taking in her surroundings. Every wall in the shop was covered in shelves of books, she couldn't see an inch of wall space there. There were counters with large displays of books and a few little desks where people could take a book to read for a few minutes (for there was a sign: DO NOT read these books for more than five minutes for they are all charmed and potentially dangerous).

Two minutes later Tara was immersed in the Defence Against the Dark Arts section of the store reading all the sleeves of every book (only glancing at the pages because she didn't want to find out what the sign meant).

* * *

"Would you mind if I ran an errand? Shouldn't take too long," Severus called to Tara.

"Go ahead," came the distracted reply. He doubted she had really heard him, but he went off anyway, leaving a message with the clerk to give to Tara when she finished.

He exited the bookshop and quickly ran to Gladrags, pulling his cloak tightly around himself.

As soon as he entered the shop he saw Lily Evans standing alone looking at a book of fabric samples.

He walked over and started looking at all the fabric samples and colours in the book next to her.

Little snippets of advice immediately started scrolling across the bottom of the page. _Pick something that will go with her eyes and her hair. Make sure that the colour will suit her personality. Consider the colour of your robes. Make sure you get the right size, nothing worse than having dress robes that don't fit._

Severus suddenly felt out of his depths. He stared at the colours for a while, clueless. He noticed Lily looking at him.

"Hello," he said trying to sound cordial.

Lily looked at him with a trace of surprise vanishing from her face. "Hello," she replied coolly.

"What are you up to?" he asked, trying to work his way around to the subject that he wanted to discuss.

"Isn't it obvious? It doesn't take the intelligence of a Ravenclaw to work out that I'm looking at fabric patterns so that I can decide what material I want for my new dress robes."

Severus humphed.

"Seen anything that you like?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Yes…" Lily seemed to study him for a moment. "Is there something you want?"

"Well… I was thinking of buying Tara some robes… she doesn't have any…"

"And you're feeling out of depth?" said Lily with a smirk.

Severus sighed. "Yes," he replied, grudgingly. He clearly didn't like admitting it to the Gryffindor.

Lily turned to Severus' book and flicked through the pages and said, "Whatever you do, don't let them attach anything like bows to it."

She flicked through a few more pages. "I take it you got her measurements before you came."

"Yes, I wrote to Madame Malkin and got them."

Lily looked sceptical. "You sure they're…"

"The right ones?" Severus looked at her disgusted. "I'm not stupid, besides how many amnesiacs are there at Hogwarts?"

"This colour would look great on her," said Lily pointing to a periwinkle blue colour, "so would this…" deep red silk, Severus rolled his eyes, the Gryffindor colour.

"This," Lily continued, pointing to a piece of dark magenta fabric, "and this…" lilac silk. "Oh and this cut would look great on her too, show off her figure," she said pointing to a modestly cut robe. "And now you're on your own."

With that she took a sample of rose coloured silk and walked over to the assistant, leaving Severus alone with the fabric.

He stared at the fabrics, not sure what to do next. To him, they were just different pieces of coloured fabric. They were all nice, he supposed. He discarded the red quickly – it might look good on Tara, but that didn't mean he wanted her to wear that colour, it was a Gryffindor colour after all. The lilac, it was his least favourite of the bunch. He fingered the light blue - periwinkle, and found himself thinking of Tara in robes made from the silky material. She'd look beautiful, he decided, nodding his head decisively.

He took the sample over to the saleswitch "It's not for me, it's a Christmas present," and took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed them to the witch.

"Hmmmmm, we're a little busy, but I can have it done in an hour. But it will cost you six Galleons five sickles. Half now, half when you come to collect them."

Severus checked his pouch and took out the money. He had more than enough to get the robes and everything else he wanted to buy.

"I'll be back in about an hour," he said paying the witch.

Severus looked at his watch, he'd only been twenty minutes… _She's probably too engrossed in the books to notice I'm gone._

And he walked back to Flourish and Blotts.

* * *

After an hour and a half in the shop Tara was dragged to the counter by a severely bored Severus. He liked the bookshop but there were only so many times that you could visit it before you got extremely bored after being in it for twenty minutes. She paid for the books and they left the shop.

"But I didn't get Hogwarts: A History!" Tara protested.

"They have several copies in the library," Severus said. "Besides you've been looking at books for an hour."

"Okay," she said glumly. "Where to next?"

"Zonko's," said Severus, with a glint in his eye, taking her hand to pull her down the street faster.

"What's Zonko's?"

"You'll see," he said quickening his pace.

Zonko's turned out to be a brightly coloured joke shop, with items covering every wall. It was packed with what looked like half of Hogwarts students.

Immediately Severus led her to a shelf-lined wall and grabbed some brown things, and popped them into a bag. The box they were held in said "Dungbombs".

On the next shelf there was a china tea set. Tara picked up one of the cups and looked inside."

"Don't hold it too close," said Severus, pushing the cup away from her face, "it bites."

Tara hastily put the cup back onto the saucer and started looking elsewhere.

She took a bag and started putting hiccup sweets, belching powder and whizzing worms into it.

Finally when Severus had finished looking at the enchanting charms in one of the books they each paid for their sweets.

Just as they were about to leave Tara suddenly had the urge to ask for something. "Excuse me? Do you have Ton-Tongue Toffees?"

"What dear?" asked the saleswizard.

"Ton-Tongue Toffees."

"Never heard of them."

"What about Canary Creams?"

"Never heard of them either. You been abroad?" he asked pausing to think for a moment. "Some sweets are exclusive to the countries they were made in at the moment. Like "

A thought hit Tara. "Never mind, I still have some back at the school," she said hastily and she exited the shop Severus following behind her.

* * *

"Hey, where are you going?" Severus shouted to Tara as she ran from the shop.

"Just started to feel a little claustrophobic, that's all."

"I don't believe you. What happened?"

"A memory happened. I remember some people." Tara looked at him for a moment. "Dumbledore told me not to tell anyone what I remember. I shouldn't tell people about future events."

"Do you want to go back and tell him?"

"No, maybe if we walk around I'll remember more."

"So where to now?" he asked.

"Dervish and Banges?" Tara suggested, looking around.

"Okay, can I meet you in there in a few minutes?" Severus asked. "I just remembered that I forgot to do something else. Shouldn't take me more than ten minutes. Or do you want me to stay with you?"

"That's fine," Tara replied, a distant look in her eyes, and she walked off in the direction of the shop.

When Severus was sure Tara was in the shop, he walked back over to Gladrags Wizardwear.

As he entered the shop the saleswitch disappeared into the back, and emerged a few moments later with the robes he had bought. _She probably has a few house-elves back there, _he thought._ Otherwise she couldn't get all these robes finished so quickly. _Not that he particularly cared.

He took at a long look at the robes. The stitching was perfect.

A fifth year Ravenclaw girl walked up behind him.

"What do you think?" he asked her, not sure that he could really trust the opinion of the saleswitch.

"Those are beautiful," she said.

Severus paid the witch the rest of the money and the witch wrapped it up.

It had taken him fifteen minutes. He ran to Dervish and Banges.

When he caught up with Tara he was out of breath, but he noticed her hide something in one of the folds of her robes, she was smiling guiltily.

"What was that?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Nothing."

"If it's nothing then you won't mind showing it to me," he said making a grab for the pocket.

She jumped out of the way in time. "No, Sevi, you'll find out soon enough. Patience is a virtue and all that. You can look around here, I'm going to take a look at Gladrags Wizardwear."

Severus' heart stopped. _Is she going to get some robes?_

* * *

Tara breathed a sigh of relief. He had almost caught her buying his present. If he's got there twenty seconds earlier, he would have seen it.

She put the thought out of her mind and concentrated on where she was going. She ran quickly across the road dodging the snowball fight that was now nearing her destination.

She entered the shop and immediately spotted Lily hopping off a stool, the witch next to her rolling up some measuring tape.

"Christmas Eve," the witch was saying.

Lily nodded and the witch went about her business.

"Hi Tara," said Lily, walking over to her. "What are you up to?"

"Just came to look at some clothes, you must be sick of having half your wardrobe in my room."

Lily chuckled. "Well I was beginning to miss my green jumper…"

There was a tap on the window. Sirius and James were outside, grinning at Lily.

"Well I'd better go," said Lily, motioning to the boys. "See you at the feast tonight?"

"Sure."

Tara went to the nearest clothing rack and found some trousers and a jumper that she liked.

Tara spotted a make up counter and went over to look, maybe she'd find something for Lily in there, some nice nail polish or something. Almost immediately she was drawn to a box, above it a label said magical make-up case. _Select your shades and let the case do the rest. _

_Perfect, _thought Tara, _Lily is always complaining that it takes too long to do her make-up._

Next some books caught her eye. They were filled with colour samples and patterns.

_Hmmmmm… _she thought looking at a cross between a dark magenta and burgundy. _This is beautiful…_

* * *

After half an hour in Dervish and Banges Severus had found presents for half the people in his dormitory. The rest would get sweets, Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, Sugar quills and the like.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, "Got everything?"

He turned around and saw Tara smiling back at him.

"Nope, two more stops," said Severus. "And I've saved the best till last. Honeydukes."

_

* * *

_

_Sevi wasn't lying, _thought Tara as she entered the large sweetshop from the bitter cold. She looked around in wonder. She'd never seen anything like it (well as far as she knew). The shop was absolutely heaving with students.

The walls were lined with jars and boxes of sweets. There was a witch and wizard serving at the counter as quickly as they could.

"We've run out of Chocoballs," called the witch, "and we're running low on fudge."

The wizard rushed into the storeroom and brought back several jars, some filled with large brown balls and some with the label "Honeydukes fudge".

Tara didn't know where to start. Severus quickly grabbed a few paper bags and gave one to her.

"What's good here?"

"Everything," said Remus, passing on his way out with Sirius, James and Peter. "The fudge is excellent, but Sugarquills are my favourite."

"The Gryffindor is right," said Severus appearing behind her, "the fudge here is excellent, better go and get some before it's all gone."

For the next ten minutes Severus loaded both their bags with his favourite sweets. Tara seemed to remember some of them and put some into her bag, even though Severus said that they were horrid.

That was until Tara spotted a wall lined with shelves labelled "Special Effects Sweets".

She read all the descriptions of all the sweets, like Pepper Imps - breathe fire for your friends, and acid pops, burn a hole through your tongue.

These would be perfect for Sirius, Tara thought, and she took sweets from several of the containers, only stopping when she saw a large box of ice mice that for some reason reminded her of Peter Pettigrew.

"Don't get too many Pepper Imps," Severus warned her. "They're fun the first couple of times, but they get tiresome after a while."

"Oh, they're not for me," she said turning to face Severus. "They're for Sirius."

"Sirius?" asked Severus a scowl crossing his face.

_What is that look…? _Tara asked herself silently, but quickly dismissed it.

"Just thought I might get him and the others some things – sort of a thank you. They've been so nice to me, sort of a thank you." She held up the Gladrags bag, "I've already got something for Lily."

Severus seemed to relax a little at her reassurance.

"I don't suppose you would want to sprinkle a little belching powder over Sirius's sweets, would you?" Severus asked hopefully.

Tara shook her head and chuckled. "No."

"What else are you getting them?"

"Well… I'll get Peter some Ice Mice," she paused as Severus grabbed a box from the self near them. "Remus said Sugar Quills are his favourite, and James… James…" she looked around at the larger boxes of sweets. "Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, he's adventurous, I think he'll like those."

Severus collected all the other boxes, paying for both their bags of sweets (but not Tara's presents) and they entered the icy outdoors once again.

"Want to go back?" she asked, chilled to the bone.

"Not quite yet, one more stop."

And Severus led her in the direction of the castle, but he pulled her into a building "The Three Broomsticks" written on the sign above the door.

"Now, we can try to find a seat in here," said Severus motioning her inside the packed pub, or we can head back a little earlier with two bottles of Butterbeer, each."

"I still need to pack up my things…" said Tara, somewhat reluctant to leave the village.

Severus bought some Butterbeer and they both stepped outside. Tara took a sip from one of the bottles.

"Wow," she said, as warmth coursed through her body.

* * *

Twenty minutes later they were back at the castle, standing outside the door of Tara's quarters, Butterbeers all finished, the wonderful warm feeling having worn off.

"So…" said Tara.

Severus thought she might be expecting something.

"So…" he replied. "I suppose I'd better be off, some gifts to wrap before the feast. Got to give them to Professor Slughorn, so they'll be given to people on Christmas morning." He could swear that he saw a flash of disappointment briefly cross Tara's face.

Suddenly, it was as if something had taken him over, he didn't know what he was doing, but it wasn't an unpleasant thing. He took both her hands gently in his and leaned over and kissed her fully on the lips.

_She smells like honey, _he thought. Her lips still tasted of Butterbeer.

He heard her moan lightly.

Then wolf whistles and clapping.

He pulled away somewhat reluctantly and turned to see a crowd of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sixth years, obviously just returning from Hogsmeade.

"Well, I'd better go," he said looking at the dreamy expression on her face.

"Okay, I'll be back here before dinner."

And with that he walked off in the direction of his common room.


	3. WHAT?

**Chapter Three**

Tara closed her trunk. It was nearly time for her sorting. She lay on her bed and started to think about the different houses. What if she were to get into Severus' house. Dealing with Malfoy every day wouldn't exactly be fun – but maybe his opinion of her would change if she got into his house? Somehow she doubted it.

_I'd love to be in the same house as Sevi,_ she thought. _If only he weren't a Slytherin..._

But that wouldn't do either… If he weren't in Slytherin then he wouldn't be the same man he was.

There was a knock on the door and she opened it to a smiling Severus.

"Ready to go?" he asked holding his arm out for her to hold.

"Yes, but I just want to give you your present now, in case we don't see each other. To be opened Christmas morning, no sooner. And it's charmed so that you can't cheat!" She handed him the little package.

He examined it for a moment, shook it and slipped it into his pocket.

They walked for a little while and Tara felt a question rise into her head.

"What's the Sorting like?" she asked.

Severus gave her a reassuring smile. "I can't tell you, but if you've heard anything about wrestling a troll from Sirius Black then it isn't true."

Tara gave him a half smile. "So, what house do you think I'll be in?"

"Ravenclaw," Severus said quickly, sounding sure of himself. "I'd bet my life savings on it! In fact, I'll bet all my family's savings on it."

"Really?"

"Tara, you'd be right at home with them. I think if you could, you'd spend all your time in the library and nowhere else," he replied with a smile.

"I'm not that bad!" she protested. "Am I?"

Severus chuckled. "Well, maybe not quite that bad, but close."

Tara swatted him on the arm as they entered the Great Hall.

As soon as they entered the room, Professor McGonagall made her way over to them. "Hello Tara," she said. "Looking forward to being sorted?"

Tara gave her a nervous smile. "I suppose."

"I'll see you after dinner," said Severus, giving her a reassuring smile. "You'll see, Ravenclaw."

Tara wished she could be as sure as Severus. At that moment she felt more like a Hufflepuff. She saw Professor Dumbledore stand up at the head table and wave Professor McGonagall, who left Tara's side so she could set out a stool and what looked like an old hat, placing them both in front of the house tables.

"I am sure that all of you are aware," said Professor Dumbledore, "that for the past two weeks, we have had a guest staying with us and taking classes with the seventh year students. Tonight she will be sorted into a house, where she will remain for the rest of the year." He indicated for Tara to sit on the stool in front of the Professor's table.

Professor McGonagall placed the old hat on her head.

_Hello._

_Who said that? _Tara asked herself

_Me, _said the voice. _The hat. Now let me see, what house should I put you in?_

_Wait, that's impossible _she said to the hat.

_And yet you can hear my voice. How do explain that?_ the hat asked.

_Then how? _she asked.

_A thousand years ago there were four great sorcerers, Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff _the hat explained, sounding a little exasperated._ They set up this school, but they wanted a fair way to determine which house students were sorted in to. Godric took off his hat and gave me life and they all put a little part of themselves into me. I have all their memories, and I am able to probe the conscious and the subconscious of every person that I sit on, so I can sort them. _

As Tara sat on the stool and tried to absorb all this, the hat continued.

_So, you're a time traveller, eh?_

_How did you know that? _she asked the hat.

_I just told you. Now on with the Sorting._

_You want to be a Slytherin? You're not Slytherin material. You might want to be put there, but a boy isn't a good enough reason for me to put you in there, what if you fall out? You feel like a Hufflepuff? You're very loyal and hardworking, but you're not Hufflepuff material either. Keen mind, very keen, and an unquenchable thirst for learning. Very Ravenclaw. Very Ravenclaw indeed. Hmmmm… I know… GRYFFINDOR!_

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the indifferent voice of the Sorting Hat.

_

* * *

_

_GRYFFINDOR? GRYFFINDOR? _At that moment Severus wanted to tear the blasted Sorting Hat to pieces with a nice little charm that he'd learnt from one of the books in the Restricted Section at the end of the previous year. He only wished that the hat would be able to feel it.

He watched her sitting on the stool, smiling happily. Then it occurred to him. _It only put her in the house she'd wanted to go in, if she'd objected it wouldn't have put her there, she'd have been put in Ravenclaw._

Suddenly he felt angry. _She wanted to be put there, _he thought. _With her Gryffindor pal Lily._

"So… Severus, "friends" with a Mudblood Gryffindor, eh?" said Lucius Malfoy.

He felt anger surge through his body. "She isn't my friend," he hissed at Malfoy.

* * *

Tara felt Professor McGonagall take the Sorting Hat off her head, and she found herself facing the Gryffindors, who were all standing, stomping their feet and cheering madly. She felt a small smile form on her lips. _Well who wouldn't be happy at that reception? _she thought to herself.

She slowly walked over to Lily, scanning the gaps in the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of Severus, but she couldn't spot him through the small, shifting gaps between the bodies of the Gryffindors or over their heads.

She approached Lily and Sirius, who both made the others shift a little so that she would have a space to sit, and a new plate materialised shifting all the other ones into place on front the others at the table.

Sirius indicated for her to sit down next to him. But Tara was far more interested in something else.

Finally she could see the Slytherin table.

And Severus did not look happy.

* * *

The impromptu party after the feast went on for most of the night, James Potter's Wizarding Radio blaring loudly, until Professor McGonagall had come up into the common room at midnight to tell them all to go to bed. They did have a lot to celebrate. One, there was a new member in Gryffindor House, and two, it was the start of the holidays and they wouldn't have classes for two weeks. There was Butterbeer, Pumpkin juice and loads of snacks from the kitchens. Tara found out that there were a few others staying over for the holidays, including herself and Remus, Lily, James and Sirius some first-years, a second-year and a couple of fifth-years. But Tara didn't really take part in the festivities much until they were nearly finished. Sirius kept on talking to her and pulling her out to dance, but she was too busy thinking of Severus' reaction to her new house.

The next morning, Tara tried to put Severus out of her head. She got up, took a shower, got dressed. And she almost succeeded. But not for long. Every time she managed to do it, she would feel an ache in her heart and she would start to think of him again.

At 10am she was dragged down to the Great Hall for breakfast by two very overenthusiastic Gryffindor boys, Lily laughing all the way at something Remus was whispering to her and Peter pulling his trunk to the Entrance Hall.

Half way through breakfast she saw Severus leaving the Great Hall, alone.

She got up, and walked quickly over to him, determined to find out what going on. She hadn't been able to see him the previous night as she'd been dragged up to Gryffindor Tower as soon as dinner had been finished, and after that she hadn't been able to get out.

"Severus," she called.

He ignored her.

"Severus," she called again, a little louder.

He continued walking.

Tara picked up her pace and jogged to close the gap between them.

"Sev," she said, blocking him from going any further.

"What," he said coldly, his stare icy at best.

"What's the matter?" she asked, feeling anxious at the look Severus was giving her.

"Nothing that concerns you. Now get out of my sight, _Mudblood_."

Tara slapped him, hard, then moved out of his way, tears spilling down her cheeks. She'd never heard him speak like that to anyone. She'd never thought she'd hear him call her that. Ever.

She turned to go back to the Great Hall, wiping her cheeks with the back of hand. Suddenly she didn't feel like eating anymore. Instead she raced up to Gryffindor Tower, somehow managing to avoid all the trick steps, and remembering to tickle some doors, and give others courteous hello's. She muttered the password "Christmas Crackers" to the portrait of the Fat Lady and headed to her own dormitory, flinging herself on to her bed, still crying.

* * *

After what seemed like ages in the dormitory, Tara's tears had dried up and she just lay there, not doing anything, not even thinking about anything, which was unusual because her head was normally filled with activity.

Tara heard the door to the dormitory open quietly, and footsteps approach her bed. She felt the side of her bed sag a little as someone sat down and started rubbing her back soothingly.

"Hello," the person said. It was Lily.

Tara didn't reply. She just lay there as if she hadn't heard Lily talk.

"What's the matter?" Lily asked.

Tara lifted her head up and looked at Lily. "He called me a Mudblood, and told me to get out of his sight."

Lily seemed to think for a moment before she answered. "He was just shocked that you got put in here," she said in a soothing voice. "It just didn't occur to him that you might be sorted into Gryffindor. Gryffindor and Slytherin are enemy houses, you know. He'll get over it." She seemed to think for a little while longer. "You know, James and Sirius had a betting pool on what house you'd be put into. Ravenclaw was the favourite. Hardly anyone put any money on Gryffindor."

Tara gave her a weak smile and sat up.

"Sev said that he would have bet all the gold in his family vault that I would be put in Ravenclaw," she said with another weak smile.

"Good thing he didn't place that bet," said Lily with a wink.

This time Tara giggled and for the first time she notice that Sirius, James Remus were standing nervously at the door.

"You coming in or are you just gonna stand there till the holidays are over?" Lily asked, and they moved further in to the room.

Tara looked around the room and spotted her trunk at the end of her bed. "I'd better unpack, if I'm going to be living here," she said with a sigh as she opened her trunk. She took out the top layer of bags from Hogsmeade and put them on her bed sorting out the presents and putting them into the chest of drawers, leaving the sweet and joke bags on her bed.

Lily started taking books out of the trunk. "Where do you want these?"

"Er… in the second drawer," she replied, taking out some of the clothes she had bought the previous day.

"Take a sweet if you want," said Tara to the boys who were standing at the door, and rifled through her trunk and took out her school robes and put them into the drawer with her other clothes.

"Wait, how the heck did you get up here? There are charms to prevent that!"

"There's a password," said James, jumping onto Lily's bed. "We overheard McGonagall."

Sirius rifled through the bags and found a toffee and then offered the bag around, James taking a biscuit and Remus a hardboiled sweet. Lily took a Sugar Quill from another bag and started sucking on it.

Tara finished to in time to see Remus turn bright red.

"What's the matter, Remus?" she asked looking at his face.

"You're… turning purple…" said James taking a bite of his biscuit, then suddenly turning into a small yellow canary.

Sirius and Remus laughed.

"Nice one," said Sirius, before his tongue started to grow. "What the…" though his words were muffled by his rapidly growing tongue.

Tara and Lily tried to stifle their giggles, but were unsuccessful.

"Well," said Tara in between laughs. "At least now I know what's in that bag."

James turned back into his normal self.

"Great," said Remus. "Now how do we get back to normal?"

"I don't know," she realised, "but we can try Finite Incantatum."

Lily took out her wand and cast the spell on Sirius' tongue, which had stopped growing when it reached five foot. It slowly shrunk back to its normal size.

Tara tried the same charm on Remus, but this time it didn't work. He was now a nice shade of green.

"Let me try," said Sirius, pulling out his wand. "Finite Incantatum." But it still didn't work.

James picked the wrapper up off the bed and read the small print on the clear plastic. "Rainbow drops. It says that it lasts ten minutes."


	4. Christmas

**Chapter Four**

"I just spent the last hour looking for this place," said Tara, stepping through the portrait hole. "I met a poltergeist and he started throwing things and chasing me. I had to run for ages before I lost him. And by the time I did I was completely lost."

"That's Peeves," said Lily, pulling a sour face. "Next time just threaten to go to the Bloody Baron and he'll go away."

"Is there a map of this place?" Tara asked, not wanting to get lost again.

"Nope, and there's no point in making one either," said James lazily. "The castle is almost constantly changing. The rooms appear one day and then disappear the next."

"And the castle can't be put on a map either," added Sirius. "Unplottable."

"You know, the Ministry is Unplottable," said Remus thoughtfully. "But they have a spelled map that changes with the building," said Remus. "It's in the main hall."

"Doesn't Unplottable just mean that a place can't be put on a map? Couldn't we just map the inside of the castle and the grounds?" asked Tara, thinking out loud.

"Hmmmm… I never thought of that," said James. "I wonder how they made the Ministry map."

Sirius took out a piece of parchment. "You know, it would be a great tool for future marauders if we could make a map to show where everyone was in the castle," he said conspiratorially.

"What, like a Marauders Map?" asked Tara, grabbing Lily's attention.

"Errrr…" said Sirius.

"Of course, we're going to have to do a lot of research into it…" said Tara. "Lots of time in the library."

"Ok, but this stays between the five of us," said Sirius.

"What about Peter?" asked Lily.

"We'll owl him about it tonight, see if he has any suggestions."

They spent the next hour planning what was going to go in the map and how it would be designed. Finally they decided and Sirius sent an owl to Peter.

* * *

The next morning, when Lily and Tara woke up and went down into the common room, there was an owl passed out on one of the comfiest chairs in the common room, a letter attached to its leg.

Tara untied the note from his leg and scanned it quickly:

_Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, Lily and Tara,_

_Great idea, but what if someone found the map? Writing needs to be hidden, unlocked by a password in case someone we don't want to see it finds it._

_Wormtail_

"What is it with those silly nicknames?" Tara asked Remus and Sirius as they entered the room, closely followed by James who gave Lily a quick kiss on the cheek.

The three boys looked at each other, with a mutual understanding. "Nothing, we just like them."

Tara doubted it.

But James quickly changed the subject. "Any response from Peter yet?"

Tara held up the piece of parchment. "He said it's a good idea, but we need to protect it from people. Make the writing invisible and giving it some sort of password."

"Come on," said Sirius, his stomach rumbling, "I'm hungry."

After breakfast they went straight to the library and researched all the spells that they needed for the map, which took them up till dinner time.

* * *

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" shouted James, Sirius and Remus, at the top of their lungs, barging though the door on the seventh-year girls dormitories. They bounded into the room and started bouncing on the beds left by Melody Gates and Tess Miller.

"Whaaaaaa?" Tara mumbled sleepily.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" they shouted again.

"Give us another hour, we only got to bed at two," said Lily, sounding only slightly more awake than Tara.

"So," said Sirius. "We went to bed at three."

"Let me try this again, get out of here for another hour or I'll start hexing," she said drawing her wand out from underneath her pillow.

* * *

An hour later, Lily and Tara gathered up their presents from their trunks and went down into the common room to find all the Gryffindors who had opted to stay over the holidays staring longingly at the large pile of presents on the Floor, James standing next to the tree making sure that no one made a grab for them.

"Great, you're here, time for presents!" said Sirius, moving towards the tree as James went to kiss Lily.

Tara sat down on one of the squishy chairs neat the fireplace. Lily led James to the sofa and they sat down arm in arm.

Remus handed her a present and she put in on the Floor next to her just as Lily did with the present that Sirius handed her.

A second later, James jumped up and helped them dole out the presents from under the tree, obviously as anxious to start opening presents as Remus and Sirius, while the girls sat back and watched the separate piles of presents mounting up.

Three minutes after all the presents had been doled out and as if a starting pistol had been shot they all started tearing into their presents one by one, each pausing to say thank you when they unwrapped a present from one of the others.

"A broomstick polishing kit, thanks Jamsie"

"I needed a new one of these, how did you know?"

"Oh, James it's beautiful, I love it!" (smooch)

"Sugar quills my favourite!"

"Another jumper from mum, she gets me one of these every year."

"Well at least you don't get ones like mum gives me for my birthday! Remember that pink one with the red frilly bits?"

"Remind me, exactly how did it catch fire?"

"Mum sent me a Remembrall!"

"Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans! Yuck, sprouts."

"I love this chess set."

"Acid pops, lovely, want one?"

"I never saw you get these! Thank you!"

"Contacts?"

"Dad sent me those comics I wanted."

"They're beautiful, I love these earrings!"

"Look at these? Do you think they suit me?"

"Where did you get these from, you can't go down to Hogsmeade yet!"

"It must have cost loads. Thanks sis!"

"This necklace is beautiful Lily. Thank you."

"It was all James' idea."

"They're not prescription, but you can wear your glasses over them, you can change your eye colour using them though."

"Hagrid's toffee, _yum_!"

"More sugar quills?"

"Making mischief, a guide to marauding? By Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?" (laughter)

Finally Tara picked up the last present that she had to unwrap, and read the card.

_Dear Tara, _

_I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas, _

_Love Severus._

Tara dropped the parcel to the Floor causing the others to look at her in alarm.

"It's from Snape," she said.

"Are you going to open it?" asked Lily.

"I don't know."

"Any idea what it is?"

"No," Tara replied staring at the package as if it had grown two heads.

"Whatever it is, you can bet that he put a lot of effort into wrapping it," said Lily, pulling at a strand of curly silver ribbon. "He's even done it is Ravenclaw and Slytherin colours," she added, the meaning not lost on Tara.

She gingerly picked up the package, and placed it back on her lap, just looking at it, trying to decide whether she should open it or not, or whether it could possibly be a peace offering.

_No,_ her mind told her, _he gave it to Professor Slughorn before he left for home._

But she was curious about what Severus had thought she would like. A book on Potions maybe, or Defence Against the Dark Arts, but it was too soft and light to be a book.

Eventually, with a little encouragement from Sirius and James, her curiosity got the best of her.

Tentatively, she pulled on the ribbon, which slowly came undone.

Then she lifted the spellotaped flaps at either end of the package and slowly tore the last bit of tape from the middle, to reveal a plain white box.

She slowly lifted off the lid of he box and set it down on the Floor next to her and looked at the contents of the box.

Inside was he most beautiful set of blue robes that she had ever seen. She lifted them out of the box and stared at them for a moment taking in their magnificent cut.

"Wow," she said.

"He spent ages looking for the right material," ventured Lily. "He must have spent at least ten minutes just deciding on the fabric."

"Are you going to try it on?" asked Sirius, a hint of something in his voice that Tara missed.

Tara looked at Lily and went up to their dormitory, Lily following closely.

Three minutes later and Tara had slipped into her robes. They fit perfectly, figure hugging in all the right places.

"Do robes always fit this well? Are they spelled to do this?"

"If you'd seen James' Aunt Minnie in her robes at his mothers' birthday party, you wouldn't be asking that question."

She slipped back out of the new robes and went back into the common room.

"What? Don't we get a looksee?" asked Sirius, showing obvious disappointment.

"You'll get to see them at Graduation, assuming that Tara wears them," said Lily joining James, who was trying to put the contacts into his eyes, over on the other side of the room.

"There, got them," he said blinking, "they don't feel that bad either."

"Let's see them in action then," called Remus.

"Where's that booklet with the instructions?" asked James putting his glasses back on.

Lily had it, and she was reading the instructions and holding her wand on James, non-threateningly of course,

"Eyes, green," said Lily, aiming her wand at the contacts.

"Wow, they're the same colour as mine now." said Lily, and she held up the mirror in the makeup case that Tara had got her so James could see for himself.

"Nice," he said checking out the reflection of his "new eyes". "What do you think?"

Tara looked at him, and at first she didn't really see any difference in his appearance, but as she got closer...

Suddenly she was in the Gryffindor common room facing James, no one else around, but there was something different about him. There was a scar sticking out from underneath his longish fringe and he was holding glasses in his hand.

"Harry?"

"Who?"

Tara was pulled back into reality, and she mentally shook herself for a moment.

"You just reminded me of someone for a moment, I think he was a friend of mine."

"Was?"

"I don't remember, I remember his name, but I don't remember anything else."

"So what just happened?"

"I saw a boy, he had dark messy hair and green eyes, like yours. We were in a room, but I don't know where it was, His name just popped into my head. It was Harry. I don't remember his last name."

"Want to go and see Dumbledore? Maybe you can draw him or Dumbledore can spell it out of you."

"I can talk to him later, after dinner, it can wait. It's not that far away, only three hours until one, and it's snowing."

They all looked out the window to see the heavy snow falling outside and down at the grass to see a good few inches of snow had already fallen.

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" shouted James and Sirius simultaneously, Remus just shaking his head, and they raced off to the dorm to put on their heavy cloaks and charmed winter gloves.

"Will they ever grow up...?" asked Lily with a small laugh.

_I don't know, Lily,_ thought Tara absentmindedly, _you tell me, after all, you married James._

* * *

After an hour of snowball fighting with some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs (which they won) the five had a small break where they helped a group of first years add some scarves and Santa hats to their snowmen. Then they went sledging down one of the hills near to the Quidditch field.

Tired, wet and cold, they trudged up the common room and dried themselves off in front of the warm fire.

Soon it was time for dinner and Lily got her first chance to use the new makeup case.

"It's so easy to use, it's brilliant, what do you think?"

Lily had chosen a bright blue eye shadow with green lipstick and loads of red rouge. Each of these looked like they had been applied using a trowel.

"I like the mascara, makes my lashes look so much longe," said Lily, fluttering her eyelids at Tara

"It's certainly an... interesting look."

"I think it looks rather nice," she said, turning back to the mirror and admiring her reflection.

Tara walked over to her and looked at Lily's reflection in the mirror and laughed. "Go and look in the mirror in the bathroom."

A moment later there was a scream and Lily stormed out of the bathroom, picked up the case and stormed into the common room. Tara followed. "Sirius Black! James Potter! You'd better sort out my make up case before dinner or I'll make the rest of your lives a misery."

"Don't look at us," said James with is hands in the air. "We went outside with you, we haven't been alone with it."

Lily rounded on Remus. "Moony!"

"Yes?" he asked, in one of those innocent voices, accompanied by an innocent look, that to Tara screamed "IT WAS ME!"

"What did you do?"

"I sat down tired from the snowball fight."

"To my makeup case."

"I added a couple of charms."

"Well you can remove them before dinner or you won't live to see graduation."

Remus took the case from her hands and set to work on it, while Tara took the make up off Lily's face and they went upstairs to change.

After a few minutes Remus knocked on the door and left the case on the Floor, barely popping his hand through the door.

"Let's see if this thing works," said Lily and set about picking the same colours as she had before.

"So how do I look?"

"Much better, I'm sure James will approve."

"Now for you."

Tara looked doubtful, she liked keeping her makeup understated and the colours in Lily's case were anything but.

But when she sat in front of the case all the colours changed to natural shades that would suit her perfectly.

Lily set about picking all the colours and soon the brushes in the case went to work.

"There, perfect," said Lily, looking at Tara once the brushes had finished working.

* * *

Christmas dinner was spectacular as usual. The four house tables had been removed from the hall and replaced by one large table, where all the students and staff were seated, passing round the food. There was no less that seven fat turkeys on the table, lots of potato of every kind, boiled, roasted and mashed, golden brown Yorkshire puddings, crisps, boats of gravy and cranberry sauce and platters of stuffing.

There were stacks of crackers placed every two feet down the table. Everyone grabbed some and started pulling them with someone else.

Sirius pointed one end of a cracker at Tara and she pulled, the cracker splitting at his end. The loud bang that from the cracker almost made Tara scream out of surprise. A large pink ladies hat, the brim covered in flowers and a "Grow Your Own Warts" kit fell out of the end. Sirius put the hat on and looked into the end of the cracker and pulled out a piece of paper and read it out loud.

"What do you get hanging from Father Christmas' roof?"

"Tired arms!"

There were several more bangs, which didn't shock Tara quite so much. She held out the end of her cracker to Sirius who took it, and she won again, This time, out fell a chess set and a bright green bowler hat. She pulled the piece of paper out of the cracker and read:

"How does Father Christmas climb up a chimney?"

"He uses a ladder in the stocking!"

As if on cue the others started reading their jokes out.

"Why was the Turkey in the pop group?"

"Because he was the only one with drum-sticks!"

"Who delivers presents to baby sharks at Christmas?"

"Santa Jaws."

And after all the jokes had been read everyone started piling their plates high with all the food that they could fit on it. The hall was quiet apart from the clinking of cutlery and people chewing the food in their mouths.

After dinner came dessert, there was Christmas pudding, trifle, Christmas cake, chocolate pudding and fruit salad, but everyone was too full to have more than a little piece.

After dessert was finished they went back to the common room and sat in front of the fireplace just gazing into the fire. After a little while Sirius managed to coax Tara into a game of chess.

But all she managed to do was anger her pieces and make them hate her.

"I'm about to be taken, do something,"

"No, move him over there."

"Nope, not me, I'm not moving, move him instead."

"No not there, there!"

"Check mate!"

The next game she okayed against Remus, and she won, but only because she got a lot of help from Sirius who her chess pieces seemed to like (the queen even flirted with him).

After that game they both tried to teach her how to play, and it took most of the night. She finally won her first match at midnight against a first year.

At three am Tara went to bed, exhausted but feeling quite content, except for one small nagging thought in her head. _Severus._


	5. Valentines Ball

**Chapter Five**

Boxing day turned into new years, new years turned into start of term when Remus had to go and see his sick grandmother and the start of term turned into the beginning of February.

Things were still no better with Severus after a month had passed. In every class they sat on opposite sides and when they were forced to work together in Potions they kept contact and chatter to a bare minimum.

On the morning of February first each house awoke to find a new notice on their notice board:

On Friday 17th of February

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Will be holding

A Valentines Ball

In the Great Hall

For the 5th year and up

Melody and Tess, who were the first to spot the little notice in the middle of the board, started jumping up in the air and squealed with delight. "They're putting on a Valentines Ball!"

Most of the boys groaned at the thought.

For a split second Tara wondered what robes Severus would be wearing to the ball, and would it go with the robes that he had bought her. _But he won't be asking you… _a voice inside her head taunted her… _He's probably going to go with that Slytherin girl… Erin Harker… After all she does like him… He certainly won't be asking you…_

* * *

Severus tried to block all the chatter out during his Transfiguration lesson, all the girls in the class still seemed to be babbling on about the Valentines Day dance, there was only a week to go. But every time he managed to do so his thoughts instead of being on changing the book into a bird, wandered to Tara. _Who would she go with?_

_Stop it, _he told himself, when he caught himself pondering the question for the fifth time in as many minutes. _She's a Gryffindor and a Mudblood, why should I care?_

She hadn't so much looked at him since they'd been partnered in Potions.

_They probably laugh at me in Gryffindor Tower, _he thought. _All of them, Potter, Black and all that lot._

A group of girls giggled in the corner.

_What is it with girls and dances? Why do they all have to giggle every single time a boy approaches them? And why do they all have to go around in packs? It just makes it harder for us to ask them. I'll be going alone. Most of the sixth and seventh year girls in Slytherin have boyfriends and the girls in the other houses… I don't even want to think about asking them…_

_Except… maybe… No, I refuse to ask her… I won't ask her… I won't even think about asking her…_

_Doing a great job of it too, aren't I?_

* * *

"Tara," said Sirius. "Can I have a word?"

Tara looked up from her Charms book and smiled at him warmly. "Sure," and she put a bookmark in the page that she was reading.

He held out his hand and led her up to the girls' dormitories.

"So…" said Tara, not knowing what else to say. She'd never been alone with Sirius, unless they were searching for things for the Map, but that was different because it was the library.

"So… I was wondering… you can say no… I just thought it might be a good idea…" said Sirius, apparently a little nervous.

"What?" she asked, starting to feel a little concerned. "I promise I won't bite your head off… unless you splat me with another custard pie…"

Sirius gave her a smirk. The joke had obviously done something to put him a little more at ease.

"I was wondering if you would go to the ball with me, as a friend."

Tara raised her eyebrows.

"Not a date, just as friends, nothing more. Neither of us have a date, and we might as well go with someone that we know that we'll have fun with. You don't even have to dance with me, I'm sure there are plenty… not that I… And if Severus comes to his senses…"

Tara smiled bitterly. "I doubt he will, he's had enough time."

"So…"

"Yes, I'll go with you."

* * *

"I still don't see what's so special about the game," said Tara, taking a bite of buttered toast.

"You don't see…?" asked Sirius, obviously a little put out.

"It's a bunch of people riding around on brooms hitting, catching or throwing various balls," said Tara, smiling at Sirius' reaction.

"It's more than that!" said Peter, jumping up and almost shouting, he quickly sat down looking self-conscious when half the hall turned to look at him.

"He's right, it's the beauty of all the brooms weaving in and out of each other. The nuances…" said Sirius, his expression growing dreamy.

"Any way…" said Lily rolling her eyes at Sirius. "Gryffindor is playing Ravenclaw today, if we win we're almost certain to get into the final… if we lose…"

"We won't lose," said James, banishing any such thoughts away. "Our team is too good."

"I'll be commentating so I won't be able to sit with you," said Remus looking up from the _Daily Prophet_ that he was reading. "And Peter will be sitting with Lily, getting the circulation to his hands cut off every time her Jamsie makes a quick dive for the Quaffle." He ducked to avoid a bread roll that Lily aimed at his head.

"How's your grandmother," Tara asked Remus who'd just returned after a three day trip. Like the last time after he'd returned he'd looked a little drained.

"Er, she's fine," said Remus looking uncomfortable. Tara looked at the other three boys who all had the same uncomfortable look on their faces.

"Anyway," said James, subtly changing the subject and kissing Lily on the cheek. "We have to go, Gates wants to give us the usual pep talk before the game, I think she's out there already."

* * *

"It's round three of the Quidditch Cup!" said Remus from the commentators box, his voice enhanced by a magical microphone. "Today Gryffindor and Ravenclaw face off!"

Tara spotted one of the teams coming out of the changing rooms.

"And first we have the Ravenclaw team, Jameson, Masters, Hansen, Jacobs, Lane, Sloan… AAANNND… STEEL!"

The Ravenclaw stands cheered loudly, along with the Slytherins, who just wanted Gryffindor to lose.

"And their opponents, the Gryffindor team! Gates, Potter, Atwood, Black, Bryant, Leroy… ANNNND MCKENNA!"

This time Tara screamed as loud as she could, the feeling that she was getting somehow familiar. Everyone quieted as soon as they saw Madam Hooch step into the pitch with the Quaffle.

The team captains shook hands and Madam Hooch tossed the red ball into the air.

"And Gates has the Quaffle! She passes it to Potter who shoots towards the Ravenclaw goal posts and throws the Quaffle to Atwood, but it is intercepted by Masters, who dodges a Bludger sent his way by Black. Masters passes to Hansen, Hansen to Jameson. Jameson shoots to the Gryffindor goal, but the Quaffle is caught by the gorgeous sixth-year Gryffindor Keeper, Bonnie…"

"Lupin… I warned you last game," came Professor McGonagall's voice over the microphone.

"Sorry Professor."

"Now Atwood catches the Quaffle from Leroy and slides between the two Ravenclaw Chasers barrelling down on her, oooh, Atwood is riding her broom upside down! She drops the Quaffle to Gates who is flying directly underneath her and rights herself in time to avoid the Bludger aimed at Gates. Gates gets to the half way line, her path blocked by two Ravenclaws, she passes the Quaffle to Potter. Potter scores against Steel 10-0 to Gryffindor. OUCH that has to hurt. Gates was just smacked in the mouth with a Beaters club. Lane moved to intercept a Bludger heading for Hansen and accidentally got Gates! Accidental, unlike last match when Nott smacked Potter round the head with his club."

"Lupin!"

"And back to the match! Penalty to Gryffindor. Gates sent to Madam Pomfrey who is waiting on the sidelines. This'll just take a few moments… Madam Pomfrey is the finest mediwizard that Hogwarts has to offer."

"Lupin. Stick to the match commentary."

"Just trying to fill in the time Professor. Seekers McKenna and Steel are still searching the skies for the Snitch ready to go after it at a seconds notice. Look, Gates is back, ready to take her penalty. Is fourth year Sloan any match for Gates? Gates lines herself up with the posts and shoots. Sloan makes a grab for the Quaffle, his fingers brush the ball, he fails to catch it, and it goes in 20-0 to Gryffindor."

After an hour Tara was really into the game, Peter had been right, there was more to it than she'd said. She'd witnessed Ravenclaw get twelve goals while Gryffindor were only able to get another four, something having inspired the team. The crowds had sighted the Snitch no fewer than eight times and even more by the two Seekers.

"What's this? Has Ravenclaw's Steel spotted the Snitch?" she heard Remus say from the commentators box. The Ravenclaw Seeker was diving steeply, Oliver McKenna following closely behind. Steel was two meters from the ground when she pulled up. McKenna followed suit. "What a great Wronski Feint! But Steel will have to get up earlier in the morning to pull the wool over McKenna's eyes!"

"McKenna has recovered quickly and is already speeding off in search of the Snitch on his Swiftstick 1500, Steel struggling to keep up on her Nimbus 1000."

"What's that? Near the Ravenclaw goal posts? Is that the Snitch?"

Tara quickly turned her head from the exciting Chaser play directly above her to where Remus had directed the attention of almost everyone in the stands. Sure enough she spotted a flash of gold but it was gone almost as soon and she had seen it. She looked over at the two Seekers who were chasing after the small ball.

"Go Harry!" she shouted up to the Gryffindor Seeker, jumping up.

Lily pulled her back down to her seat. "Who's Harry?"

Tara looked at Lily, puzzled, "What?"

"You just shouted Go Harry! The Seekers name is Oliver, Oliver McKenna."

There was a roar all around them and everyone was jumping up and down screaming. Tara looked at the pitch, Oliver had got the Snitch!

* * *

"How do I look?" asked Lily twirling around in her emerald green dress robes that matched the colour of her eyes perfectly.

Tara finished applying her eye shadow and looked at Lily's reflection in the mirror. "James won't know what hit him," she answered with a smile. She saw Lily stop twirling and walk up behind her.

"Those robes that Snape picked look stunning on you. Now what can we do with this?" Lily asked, picking up a lock of Tara's hair and dropping it.

Tara sighed. She'd tried Lily's mousse which had just made her hair clumpy. They couldn't put her hair up because it looked like she'd piled a bush onto her head.

"Maybe we should a spell," she said, frustrated that they weren't having any luck.

"And have it undone the first time someone shouts Finite Incantatum?"

There was a shriek from the other side of the room as one girls' hairstyle came undone.

"See?"

"Err… excuse me," said a second year, Ellie, nervously approaching Tara. "Err, I – I think I might have something my… my mum made it, she has frizzy hair, kind of like yours, and…" she held out a tub for Tara to take.

"Mum takes a blob the size of a Knut a rubs it in and then she brushes it through."

"Thanks," she said taking the tub gently from the girl and opening it.

"Let me do it," said Lily, dipping her hand into the tub and taking a lump of the gel.

Lily rubbed the gel in and took a brush to Lily's hair.

"Better, but maybe we need to use a little more than a Knut size blob," she said, dipping her hand back into the tub.

Lily gelled and brushed Tara's hair several times before she was satisfied, "there, now we can do something with it. Anyone got a curling iron?"

"Here," said a fifth-year holding up a magical curling iron for Lily to take. "Glitter too if you want it."

Half an hour later, Lily was done, she'd curled, added glitter and piled Tara's hair on top of her head.

"Done, Sirius'll love it."

"We're just friends."

"Then Snape'll love it."

"He's an idiot."

* * *

The room was silent when the girls entered, Tara first. It seemed to her that all the boys had stopped what they were doing.

Remus, his date Bonnie and Peter were sitting on a sofa near the window watching James thrash Sirius at a game of chess, there was another group of boys playing Muggle cards, the exploding variety to dangerous to play with in their dress robes.

"Wow," said both James and Sirius as Tara and Lily approached them.

"You look beautiful," said Sirius, looking at Tara.

Tara blushed.

"What happened to "just going as friends?"" James asked Sirius.

Sirius swatted James's arm, "doesn't mean I can't give her a compliment."

"Suuuure."

"What time is it?" Tara asked, wanting to get the subject away from herself and Sirius.

"Half an hour before we need to go," said James looking at his watch.

Peter took out his wand and started twirling it around. "Wingardium Leviosa," and he levitated a box of Sugar quills over into his lap.

Thalia, one of the first-years cats hopped onto the arm of his chair, it's tail swishing in his face.

"AHHH-AHHH CHOOO!" Peter sneezed, causing magic sparks to fly out of his wand.

The cat hopped off the chair and Peter looked up, his eyes growing wide.

"Pete?"

"Her robes…" said Peter, pointing at Tara.

Tara looked down to see smoke rising up the front of her dress.

"Fire!" shouted James, taking out his wand, "aquosus,"

But it was too late Tara's robes were ruined.

* * *

Severus sat at a table in the Great Hall, with a few other Slytherins, thoroughly bored out of his skull. The way he saw it he could either listen to girls comment on the decorations and snip at what the other (prettier) girls were wearing or he could listen to Lucius go on about his heritage and how Potter was ruining the Pureblood name by dating "that Mudblood Lily Evans". He decided on the latter, making a few comments and nodding in all the right places.

Finally when he'd had enough of Lucius' prattle and held his hand out to his date, Erin, and asked her if she wanted to dance. Normally he hated it, but anything was preferable to listening to Lucius when he was like that, even dancing. It wasn't as if he couldn't dance. No, his parents had made sure that he knew how to act at any social gathering, and that had included a year of dance lessons. Well, it won't do for a _Snape _to be caught not knowing how to dance of all things.

So he twirled his partner around and around the hall, Erin enjoying the attention of being seen with a _Snape_, and him just glad to be away from Lucius.

Then he saw her. Dancing in another mans' arms.

Her hair was up in a curly mass, a few tendrils loose, framing her face.

_Her robes…_ _they're…_

Instead of the periwinkle blue robes that he had expected to see her in she was wearing dark purple ones.

_I wonder what she did with them… use them to heat Gryffindor common room on Christmas day?_

He watched as her date spun her around. Severus' heart almost stopped when he looked at the man's smiling face and gasped_. Sirius Black_.

A myriad of emotions and thoughts went through his brain. Confusion. Pain, heartbreak… anger.

_But it's not like she's your girlfriend, _said the voice in his head. _In fact, you all but pushed her into his arms._

* * *

Tara sat at the table watching as Severus left the hall, his arm linked with that of his date, feeling incredibly jealous.

The ball, beautiful as it had been, had done nothing to distract her from her thoughts of Severus. She had gazed at him frequently and even thought that he might have been watching her on one or two occasions, but each time she had dismissed it as wishful thinking.

The ball was slowly winding down, the band were packing up and most of the students had left, either to go to their common rooms or to somewhere more private to go.

_I wonder which one Severus and Erin went to do, _she thought idly, but mentally kicked herself. _He's not your boy friend. He doesn't even like you._

Sirius got up to go back to the common room and held his arm out for her. "Ready to go?"

She smiled gratefully at him.

They got to the portrait hole, to find the Fat Lady being kissed by a man dressed in 16th century clothing.

"Pmmhwrr?" came the muffled voice of the portrait.

"Cupid's arrow."

Tara stepped through the portrait hole, but when she looked up she wasn't in the Gryffindor common room and Sirius wasn't with her.


	6. Memories

**Chapter Six**

She turned around to go back through the hole that she'd entered through, but all she saw was a brick wall. The exit had disappeared. She turned around and looked for another doorway, but there wasn't even a window to look out of.

She walked around the room taking in her surroundings. The room was circular. _Which means I'm probably in one of the towers,_ she thought. The only light in the room was provided by a roaring fire and strategically placed old-fashioned torches. There were a couple of curved sofas against the walls. In the centre of the room there was a table laden with sandwiches, plates, pitchers of water, pumpkin juice and Butterbeer and some glasses. Three high-backed chairs had been placed around the table.

A sound came from one of the chairs and Tara looked to see what had made it. There was a person sitting in the chair, staring at her.

Severus.

"Hello Tara," he said.

She sat down in the chair opposite Severus, and swung her legs over the side so that she didn't have to face him.

"Ignore me all you want, we have all the time in the world, and I don't think we'll be getting out of here until we've sorted out our problems," he said.

"What did you do?" she asked, instantly suspicious.

"There's a portrait in Hogwarts, if you walk in front of the wall opposite three times and concentrate on what you want the room provides it. I needed somewhere that I could sort out my feelings and the room provided what I needed."

"So then why the heck would I be here? After all, according to you I'm a Gryffindor Mudblood and your problems aren't my concern!"

Severus' looked stung by her words, and Tara immediately felt guilty.

"I'm sorry," said Severus quietly, his voice barely above a whisper, his head in his hands. "You hate me and I'm sorry."

"I don't hate you at all. I'm sorry I said that…" she said turning to face him. "I shouldn't have lashed out like that. It's just that when I tried to talk to you before Christmas… and you… it hurt… it really hurt… and then I got angry. But I never hated you."

"And now?"

"And now I don't know… I know I'm not angry… when I see you I… I feel confused."

There was an uncomfortable silence as each of them tried to think of something to say.

"Did you like your Christmas present?" Tara asked finally.

Severus took something out of his pocket and stared at it. It was the Pensieve that she had bought him, but it wasn't empty anymore. There was silver liquid inside.

"It came in very useful. This is our chat the morning after the sorting. I really am so sorry." He paused for a moment, turning the Pensieve over, the liquid not spilling. "Did you like the robes?"

"They were beautiful."

Severus raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at her robes.

"So..."

"So...?"

"Why aren't you wearing them?"

Tara flushed. "Peter was practicing spells before the ball and he accidentally set fire to them."

"Are you sure it was an accident? Maybe Sirius and James put him up to it."

"Considering that I was wearing them at the time, I don't think so. They're not that reckless."

Severus snorted, anger flashing through his eyes. He stood up and walked over to the fireplace and stared into the flames.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Tara, wondering what could have caused him to have that reaction.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter," he replied, not wanting to sound vindictive. This was the first time that he and Tara talked civilly for a month. He didn't want to blow it by insulting her friends.

"That's a story for another time. So, where did you get the other robes? Did Sirius give them to you?"

Tara smiled when she heard the slightly jealous tone in his voice.

"I got them in Hogsmeade before Christmas."

"You and Sirius dating?" Severus asked, a scowl on his brow starting to form on his brow when he mentioned Sirius's name.

Tara broke into a grin. "What happened to that slyness that you Slytherins are so famous for?"

He turned his back to the flames and looked at her. "Your Gryffindor ways are corrupting me," he replied with a smile.

Tara laughed.

"And don't think I didn't notice how you avoided my question," said Severus.

"Sirius and I are just friends."

"Are you sure he knows that?"

"Yes, he asked me to go as a friend, that's all," she replied earnestly. "So how is life in Slytherin?"

"Business as usual. Malfoy's still acting like he's Lord of Slytherin," he said with a sneer. "But it's not the same… I miss you…"

Tara felt a smile form on her lips, pleased at the words she had just heard Severus utter.

She stood up and closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I missed you too."

* * *

"Where were you last night?" Lily asked, jumping up onto Tara's bed.

"With Sev," Tara replied sleepily.

"You two made up?"

"Yes," she replied with a light smile. "So, what did you and James get up to after we left?"

"Guess," said Lily, with a smile so wide, it looked like it would hurt if she held it for too long. "You'll never guess!"

"No idea," said Tara, with a feeling that the answer was dancing on the outside of her conscious mind, but frustratingly, she couldn't remember it

Lily replied lightly. "We took a romantic walk down to the lake… and we talked for a while… then we kissed for a while…" Lily paused, obviously excited about what she was about to say. "Then he proposed."

Tara shrieked in excitement as she grabbed Lily and they both started bouncing on her bed.

* * *

"I hope that everyone is well rested and full of happy memories after the weekend," said Professor Davies as he greeted the class.

There was an unenthusiastic murmur of agreement from several people within the room. Severus just smiled and thought of the time he'd spent with Tara who was sitting next to him and listening intently to every word the professor was saying, quill in hand, ready to take notes.

"Well, I hope that answer wasn't a sign of things to come in this lesson, because today you're going to need all the concentration you can muster."

This got the attention of some of the class who sat up straighter and picked up their quills.

"But first a quick review. Who can tell me what makes Azkaban prison so feared by all Wizardkind?"

Severus raised his hand.

"The Dementors."

"Correct Mr. Snape. Five points to Slytherin. And who can tell me why the Dementors are so feared?"

Severus raised his hand again.

"Tara?"

"Because they suck peace, hope and happiness out of the space around them. If you're around them for too long they can turn you soulless and evil. It's horrible."

Severus felt Tara shiver next to him, as if from the thought of the Dementor. He put his arm around her shoulder and rubbed her arm to comfort her, earning a raised eyebrow from the professor. He took his arm away.

"Five points to Gryffindor. Now who can tell me what is the worst weapon a Dementor has? Mr. Black?"

"The Dementors Kiss."

"And what does the Kiss do, Mr. Black?"

"It sucks your soul out. Leaves you like an empty shell. The lights are on, but no one's home."

"Five points to Gryffindor. Now, something we haven't covered yet. Is there any defence against a Dementor?"

Severus looked around; no one had raised their hand. No one except Tara.

"Tara?"

"The Patronus. It drives the Dementor away. The incantation is Expecto Patronum, but that's not all you need to cast the spell. The caster has to concentrate on a happy thought as well. The happier the thought, the stronger the Patronus."

"Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor."

"The Patronus is a very difficult charm to cast and even harder if there is a Dementor around, and for obvious reasons we will not be bringing a Dementor into the school. If you cannot cast the charm then do not worry, there are many fully trained, experienced wizards who cannot make a proper Patronus, even producing a silvery mist is hard. We will be spending some time in lesson trying to produce a Patronus and it will be a part of your NEWTS. And I do not want anyone trying to practice this charm alone. Now I would like all of you to say the incantation that Tara provided earlier."

"Expecto Patronum," said the class, some getting it more right than others.

"Now think of the happiest thought that you can muster, like your favourite Christmas, or winning a Quidditch match. I'll give you a few moments."

_My happiest moment? _Severus thought. _Leaving that place I used to call my home? No. Getting Sorted into Slytherin? Not really. Feeling loved for the first time? Tara. Yes that's it. Tara._

"You will be glad to know that there is no particular way that you need to wave your wand for this incantation," said the professor. "You just hold it like this," he wrapped his hand around the bottom of the wand, apparently gripping it quite tightly, "and say the incantation EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Suddenly a silvery light charged out of his wand and took form; it was a wolf. After a few moments it dissipated and the Professor was panting slightly.

"That was my Patronus, it is different for everyone, said the professor. "Uusually the Patronus will take the form of something you feel protected by or something you admire, whether consciously or unconsciously. But there are occasions where it might turn out to be something else entirely. Now, everybody stand up and move to the front of the class room."

Everybody did as they were told.

Professor Davies waved his wand and the tables and chairs disappeared. "Now everybody spread out."

The class moved through the room, each student quickly finding a space to themselves.

"Now, concentrate on your happy thought."

There was a lot of muttering throughout the room, as people brought their thoughts into focus.

"Now, say the incantation... Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum!" said the class.

Severus was pleased to note that he was one of the few who managed to cast the silvery mist.

"Oh, Miss James, fifty points to Gryffindor! What a wonderful Patronus!"

Severus had to smother the smile that was playing on his lips, because Lucius Malfoy was looking absolutely furious.

* * *

"Today, we are going to test your memories, see if your brains are working properly. I hope you've all been revising for your Potions NEWT," said Professor Slughorn, rolling up the blackboard.

"On this board there are two potions, the ingredients and the instructions are all mixed together. Your task is to separate all the instructions, put them in the right order, and then to show them to me. One potion will make a simple swelling solution, the other a more complex aging potion."

"After I have seen your answers you are to follow your instructions to the letter. I will not be telling you whether your potion is correct or not, I will merely be making sure that you will not be creating anything toxic or otherwise dangerous. The first person to make the swelling solution will receive a five Galleon the voucher from Honeydukes sweet shop. The first person to make the aging potion correctly, will receive a potion of their choice from my private store."

"For anyone else who brews either potion correctly, five points to their house. But, anyone who fails to make either potion correctly, will lose five points for their house."

"You will find all the ingredients in front of you in their correct measurements. You are to work separately, and in silence."

Tara recalled the revision she had done so far. She'd only managed to study the Swelling solution, so that one would be easy, the aging potion would be a lot harder, but she thought she could remember most of the instructions from when she'd read through the text book, maybe once she got the Swelling solution out of the way it would come back.

She listed out the ingredients in their mixed order on her parchment and started listing them in columns.

_Right, _she thought, _porcupine quills, swelling solution, puffer-fish eyes, caterpillars, tube worms, daisy-roots and lacewing flies. That means the knotgrass, scarab beetles, ginger roots, mandrake, bundimun secretions, and armadillo shell are in the aging potion._

_Slice the daisy roots, add them to the boiling water along with the puffer-fish eyes, wait five minutes for the water to turn green and crush the caterpillars into a paste and mix it with the lacewings and add them to the cauldron and stir them thirty rotations anti-clockwise, take the cauldron off the heat wait for it to cool and turn pale yellow, add the porcupine quills._

She noticed that Professor Slughorn was already taking a look at Sev's work.

_Ok, aging potion, that should be easy, yeah right. Ok first the ginger roots are chopped and boiled saving one handful because that needs to be put in whole after the scarab beetles go in… then the bundimun secretions, stir it twelve times and let it boil for ten minutes, hold the mandrake root in the solution for three minutes and take it out, then the scarab beetles, wait if I put the beetles in before the knotgrass it'll make the cauldron melt, the chop the knotgrass and let it simmer, then the beetles and after two minutes put the rest of the ginger roots in and then in goes the armadillo shell. Lastly add one porcupine quill for each year you want to age and stir three times clockwise_

She finished her write-up and raised her hand.

"How are you doing Tara?"

"I think I'm done."

He took the parchment from her and seemed to study it.

"Hmmm, they look alright. Which one are you going to try?"

"Is it right?"

"I told you I wouldn't say, nevertheless neither potion will kill you."

"Okay, I know the swelling solution is right, so I'll try the aging potion."

"Then I suggest you get started."

Tara lit the fire under the cauldron with her wand and sorted out her ingredients, pushing the ones she didn't need to the end of the bench.

When she was a little over halfway though her potion, she looked over and saw that Sev was completing the final stirs on his potion.

Professor Slughorn came over again and looked at her progress.

"Very good Tara." He made his way over to Severus's workspace. "Ready to test yours Mr. Snape?"

Tara added her lacewings and counted her stirs as she watched Sev take a sip of his potion.

First he grew a few inches and then his face started to change. His nose became more prominent. Wrinkles surrounded his eyes and creases formed on his forehead.

He looked foreboding. He looked familiar.

Suddenly there was an explosion behind them. Peter's potion had exploded. Several students were now covered in a thick pink slime, the affected parts swelling.

"Mr. Pettigrew, there are more effective and less dangerous ways to test a swelling solution. Ten points to Gryffindor, for making an effective swelling solution. Twenty points from Gryffindor for your testing methods. And see me after class for your detention."

Somehow the scene seemed familiar. But why did she have the sudden urge to get boomslang skin?

"The rest of the class is cancelled. Everyone is to come to the front to get some on the antidote I prepared earlier. Your homework is to revise how to make Wolfsbane Potion, the Polyjuice Potion and the Animagus Potion. And I want you to write me an essay comparing the various Invisibility Potions. Ten inches. You will be tested on your revision. Points will be awarded depending on how well you have revised!"

* * *

Soon the Easter holidays arrived. Though they couldn't really be called holidays.

The teachers had piled on so much homework that they wouldn't be able to have much of a holiday. They would have to work almost constantly to get it done.

* * *

Hermione picked up her Defence Against the Dark Arts book for the fifth time that night and Sirius came bounding over yet again. It was Friday night and Sirius was restless.

"Come on Tara, one more game of Exploding Snap," he said pouting at her.

"No Sirius, and if you come over here again I'll hit you with the Curse of the Bogies."

Sirius gave her his best puppy-dog look and Hermione felt herself weakening slightly.

"Ok, if you let me study for two hours uninterrupted I'll play two games of Snap with you."

Sirius smiled. "Okay," and with that he bounded off to the corner where Peter was practicing his summoning charm on a Sugar quill.

"Where were we?" she asked Remus, who was the only other person in the common room who had felt up to studying with her.

"We'd just finished the chapter on Red Caps, and it's your turn to decide on a chapter."

She flipped to the index at the back of the book and scanned the list to find something that they hadn't covered. "Still on dark creatures... how about werewolves?"

But she didn't get a reply.

Remus looked a little paler than he usually did.

"You okay Remus?"

"Fine, werewolves was it?"

And they both flicked to the relevant pages.

"Me first?" she asked.

Remus nodded. "What makes werewolves so different from a wolf?"

"A werewolf is only a werewolf around the full moon, for three days in fact, the rest of the time they are human. Even when there is a full moon they are only werewolves when the moon is out. There are subtle physical differences, for example a werewolf has a slightly longer snout than a wolf Due to the extreme stresses of the transformations, during and after a full moon a werewolf can display signs... of major fatigue..."

It hit her like a tidal wave.

Remus was a werewolf.

Suddenly the memories came Flooding in. She was Hermione Granger, seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She saw her parents at the Eiffel Tower… her acceptance letter to Hogwarts… Ron and Harry playing chess… studying with them in the library… arguing with Ron… watching Harry take on the dragon in her fourth year… her tenth birthday… her first trip to Diagon Alley, Flourish and Blotts… Christmas with her family when she was eleven… Hogsmeade in her third year… Sirius and James… _no Harry_, but they looked so alike… Sirius transforming, the Shrieking Shack… Professor Lupin… Lily and James… Sirius's funeral… Voldemort… Ron throwing himself in front of her… Harry and Ron's funeral… Mrs Weasley crying at their funeral… the battle… the curses flying at her… the time-turner…

_Harry and Ron! they saved me and I forgot, _she thought angrily at herself.

_Lily and James are dead… _she remembered, looking sadly at the two holding each other's hands.

_Sirius got sent to Azkaban…_

_Scabbers… Wormtail…_

_Snape killed Dumbledore!_

Suddenly her blood started to boil,

_And I've been dating him!_

She could feel the anger bubbling up within herself, along with something else… She bolted for the bathroom, locked the door, put her head into the toilet bowl and threw up.

"Tara?" called Lily through the door. "Are you alright?"

Hermione looked up. _I can't warn them can I? Who knows what might happen if I do. The wizarding world might not get the respite from Voldemort. He might kill Harry…_

"Fine, I'm fine, something I ate," she lied.

"Okay," said Lily sounding doubtful. "We'll be in the common room."

After a few moments Tara unlocked the bathroom door and slid down on the Floor and stared into space… _Dumbledore… I should go and see him… _she thought, but didn't move.

_Lily and James…_

_Harry alone… _

_Sirius in Azkaban…_

_Escaped…_

_Harry dead…_

_Peter killed Lily and James! He wrecked Sirius's life. He wrecked Harry's life. I know what's going to happen and I can't warn them. Dumbledore._

She got up and looked at her reflection in the mirror, her eyes were red from the tears that had welled up in her eyes. She wiped her eyes and splashed water on her face, feeling the heat drain away slightly.

She noticed Lily's make-up case on the side. _Thank god for small favours._

She carefully applied a small amount of foundation to hide the red skin under her eyes. There. Perfect.

She exited the bathroom quickly and headed to the portrait hole.

"Where are you going Tara? We have to revise," Remus called from their revision spot.

"To see Dumbledore, he told me to go to him if I remember anything. We'll finish this later."

"Wait a minute," said James motioning for her to go to them. "We think we've finished the map."

Hermione smiled, remembering all the times she, Harry and Ron had used the map.

Sirius pushed the piece of parchment towards her. "Try and guess the password."

Hermione took out her wand and tapped it on the map. "I do solemnly swear I am up to no good," she whispered. And the message appeared, with the map underneath.

"Hey! How'd you know?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"I overheard you earlier," she lied, not looking up from the map.

_**Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs**_

_**Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers**_

_**In Partnership With**_

_**Petals and Books**_

_**Are proud to present**_

_**THE MARAUDER'S MAP**_

"Petals and Books?"

"Well you and Lily helped us so much that we agreed that you two should be put on it, after all you gave us the inspiration."

_How much of the time line have I already corrupted? _Hermione asked herself heading to the portrait hole again.

"Want to take it for a spin?" asked Sirius, picking up James's Invisibility Cloak and following her. "Filch is lurking around."

"Thanks," she said taking the cloak from him and she stepped through the, he moved forward to go with her but she pulled on the cloak and took the map from him and went to find Dumbledore's office without him.

* * *

Hermione had found the Headmasters office easily enough. But she didn't know the password. Oh, she knew that it was always a type of sweet, but she'd tried lemon drops, coke cubes, marshmallows, Snickers, liquorice, sugar quills and all the other ones that she knew. After an hour of repeating different names she'd finally given up and slid down the wall onto the ground.

So she just sat there, not paying attention to time, not caring if she was out past curfew. Just sitting there, waiting for Dumbledore to come out of his office.

"He didn't do it. He didn't do it. I shouldn't have forgotten, they died and I forgot," she muttered to herself, not for the first time since she'd arrived.

"Tara?" said a voice, waking her out of her trance. "What are you doing here? You should be in Gryffindor Tower!"

"Professor McGonagall!" she banged her head on the wall in surprise. "Ouch!"

"What's the matter dear?" Professor McGonagall asked, her eyes hard and her lips tight.

"I need to see Professor Dumbledore, it's important. Please," she said her eyes pleading with the professor.

The look in the professors' eyes softened at the plea. "You are almost out after curfew, you should go back to the Gryffindor Tower immediately."

"Please, I need to see him," she pleaded again, and the professors' expression softened completely.

"Okay, but the Headmaster is a very busy man, I cannot be sure that he will have the time."

"Hazelnut Swirl."

The gargoyle sprang to life and moved to one side, to reveal a spiral staircase.

"Go on then Tara."

She stepped onto the staircase and Professor McGonagall followed, which started to move like a Muggle escalator. And in no time at all she was standing at the headmasters' desk.

"Hello Minerva, what brings you here?"

"I found this young lady sitting outside," Professor McGonagall indicated to Tara. "She was quite persistent that she see you."

Dumbledore looked at Hermione for a moment. "Tara. Why don't you take a seat?"

She sat down in the chair opposite him.

"Now, why am I to be graced with the pleasure of your company this evening?"

"I… I…" she stuttered. Now that she was sitting in front of the professor she wasn't sure what to say.

"Yes?" he asked, the tone of his voice had a slight calming effect on her nerves.

"I remember."

"What do you remember?"

"Everything," she replied, the words suddenly tumbling out of her mouth. "I know what happens. I've changed so many things… I shouldn't be here… For all I know something major… what if you're supposed to be doing something tonight and I've changed your plans…"

Professor McGonagall tried to put a comforting arm around the obviously distressed girl, but Hermione shrugged it off standing up.

"I can assure you…"

"Hermione. Hermione Granger."

"I can assure you Miss Granger, that all I was going to do today was put my feet up and read a good book, maybe even have some tea. Would you like a cup?"

Hermione nodded and he went over to the just boiled kettle and made two cups of tea. "Now, what did you change? And why is it so bad?"

Her eyes grew wide as she realised that she'd made a grave mistake.

"I… I shouldn't have said that."

"Nevertheless you have… but if it will help I promise not to intervene or mention what you tell me to anyone unless you ask me to, I will follow the time line as you say. And Minerva will too. Won't you?"

Professor McGonagall nodded her assent.

"I suppose…" she replied slowly considering her words. "Where should I start?"

"Why don't you start from the beginning?"

A hundred doubts suddenly popped into her head, but she pushed them aside and started to talk. "There are three unregistered Animagi at Hogwarts. A stag, a dog and a rat."

"Yes, I know. James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Though I confess I do not know who is what."

Professor McGonagall's lips thinned.

"You do? How?"

"Miss Granger, that is a story for another time."

Hermione swallowed several more questions that entered her mind.

The Headmaster chuckled.

"Lily Evans and James Potter will get married after they graduate, and about two years from now they'll have a child called Harry Potter," she paused, not sure if she was doing the right thing.

"Go on," said Professor Dumbledore encouraging her.

"Things are going to get bad, very bad. You-Know-Who… I don't know whether he wants to them to join him or just to kill them, but he'll go after them… and what's more they suspect that there is a traitor among them. But you get an idea… the Fidelius Charm, they cast it near Halloween… and they make Sirius their Secret Keeper." She paused and took a gulp of her tea.

"On Halloween night… the Potter home is attacked by You-Know-Who and James and Lily are killed… but something happens when he tries to get Harry. Lily died protecting him and it left a mark… When You-Know-Who goes after Harry, he gets weakened and he loses his power, he's weak and bodiless. And he disappears. Anyway, Peter finds Sirius and some Muggles see Sirius kill Peter and twelve other Muggles. Sirius is arrested by the Aurors and is sent to Azkaban, without a trial."

"But he didn't really do it?" asked Professor McGonagall, Hermione's earlier babble making sense.

"No. Sirius convinced Lily and James to switch their Keeper to Peter at the last minute… he thought that no one would suspect it… but they didn't tell anyone. Not you, not Remus because he might have been the traitor… Peter went straight to You-Know-Who and told them what he knew. Sirius went to Peters' place that night to check on him but Peter wasn't there and Sirius realised who the traitor was. He found Peter, but Peter started screaming 'How could you Sirius! You murdered them' or something like that. And then he blew up the street and ran down into the sewers as a rat."

There was a long pause as the two professors let Hermione's story sink in.

"What am I going to do?"

"For the moment? What do you want to do?"

"Turn back the time line so that everything I've changed never got changed."

"Well, it's too late to do that. And we can't very well send you into the future, it hasn't happened yet. That is why nobody goes back more than an hour or two at a time."

"What can I do?"

"Just do what you've been doing. Carry on your friendships as you have. But do not tell anyone else about future events. We do not want anyone finding out about when you are from… especially not Voldemort."

"And act as if nothing's happened? But…" she stopped again not sure if she should mention this.

"But?"

"Severus… he's supposed to become a Death Eater."

Dumbledore's expression clouded over, as did McGonagall's.

"He… he kills someone… very important…" said Hermione, avoiding Professor Dumbledore's penetrating gaze.

"There is another way to look at your situation… There was a Muggle artist… I think his name was Picasso, he said: "I don't believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents." Maybe you were sent back to change the past, to help us defeat Voldemort earlier, to save lives…"

"No, I was silly enough to wear a time-turner during a battle."

"A battle? At Hogwarts? Never mind. Now that you're here the events of your past may never come to fruition. And it does not matter what happened to send you back, what matters is that you were sent back."

"I suppose…" she admitted reluctantly. "But how do I know what to change and what not to change?"

"That is simple. You don't. But maybe you were the perfect person to choose, the fates know that you will make the right choices."

"But I might end up making things ten times worse."

Dumbledore seemed to think for a moment.

"Destiny always gets it's own way. It is not as easy to change time as you might think. If Severus was supposed to remain the way he was and become a Death Eater then time would have not allowed you to meet him on the way from the greenhouses that afternoon. And I would certainly not have been allowed to encourage him to befriend you."

"If you were to warn me of an event that you think should be stopped, for example, a Death Eater attack on the school tomorrow, and a certain student was to be killed, and destiny objects, it would find a way to prevent that from happening, say change time just enough, so that there would be enough Death Eaters to make sure that the student died, but it would also make sure that those Death Eaters would not be able to kill anyone that was not supposed to die in the first place."

"So," said Hermione slowly, "if I were to tell you that shares in Peabody Publishing would skyrocket in my time, and that you should get in on the ground Floor and buy shares when they start up in 1985 and time didn't want you to, because it would be personal gain, then it would, say, make sure that all of the shares were bought up before you could get a chance to."

"Yes, something like that."

"Is there anything else that you feel we should know?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Nothing else really starts until a year after Harry is born. But there is an event that I feel you should know about."

"Yes dear?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"The Chamber of Secrets."

"That's just a myth," said Professor McGonagall, her brow furrowing.

"No it isn't. It's real, it opened in 1952 didn't it?"

"How do you know?"

"It opens again. In my second year."

"The heir of Slytherin returns?"

"In a manner of speaking, the heir is You-Know-Who. Tom Riddle. He's enchanted a diary. A student gets hold of it, thanks to Lucius Malfoy and Riddle manages to take over the student. He enchants her and makes her do things, he makes her set a Basilisk on the school and the students are petrified one by one."

"Do you know where the chamber is?"

"Yes, it's in the girls toilets, the one where Moaning Myrtle haunts, she was the Basilisk's first kill."

"That's impossible. I checked the girl's toilets myself. There was no entrance to a chamber there!" said Professor McGonagall standing up.

"Not one that you or I could open. But a Parselmouth could. Voldemort's a Parselmouth, so's Harry, well he will be."

"There are no known Parselmouths in the world other than Voldemort, and I for one don't want to invite him into the castle," said Dumbledore with a slight smile.

"Is there anyway that a person can speak snake language without actually being a Parselmouth?" Hermione asked.

"Not at present," said McGonagall. "But there are charms that will allow a person to speak a different language. Maybe it will be possible to adapt one of them."

"Tara," said Dumbledore in a reassuring voice. "There is a spell that I would like to perform on you that may put your mind at rest if you are worried about changing the time-line. If you were sent here by accident, it will send you back, if you are supposed to be here then it will integrate you into our time however it wants. It will take us a while to prepare. I suggest that you go back to Gryffindor Tower now and try to get some rest, this has obviously been a very stressful day for you."

"Yes, sir," said Hermione, heading for the staircase.

"And Miss Granger… whatever happens to make Severus the way he is in your time… it has not happened yet. I have noticed a change in him since you arrived… I would not like to see him retreat to his former self… It will be possible for you to prevent that."


End file.
